


Flowers in His Hair

by areyouarealmonster



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Flower Crowns, Fluff, M/M, Picnics, background Amaya Jiwe/Sara Lance, background Mick Rory/Nate Heywood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-11 14:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11150568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyouarealmonster/pseuds/areyouarealmonster
Summary: The Legends need a break, and Sara deserves a picnic. She does.So does the rest of the team.Also, Ray makes some pretty damn good flower crowns.





	Flowers in His Hair

“We need a goddamn break,” Sara declares, blood standing out bright in her blond hair. It’s not _her_ blood, of course, and she makes a face as she rakes her fingers through the crusty strands. “Gideon, set a course for, uh, I don’t know, a nice meadow or something, I want a fucking picnic.” She stalks off the bridge, clearly headed to her room to take a shower. “I deserve a fucking picnic!” she calls over her shoulder and disappears.

 

Ray trails behind in her wake, headed to his own room to do the same. He’s excited! He loves picnics, and he rushes through his shower so he can start putting baskets together, since he’s not sure the rest of the team will have the energy or drive to do so.

 

Once he’s dressed in comfy jeans and a soft gray t-shirt, he has Gideon fabricate up a few picnic blankets and baskets. Then, with the bundles in his arms, he heads to the galley to start getting food together. It’s empty, like he thought it would be, and he hums quietly to himself as he fiddles with the settings on the food fabricator.

 

He’s packing the first round of baguettes and cheese into one of the baskets when he hears someone walk in. He turns his head to see Jax, grinning.

 

“I should’a known I’d find you here, already half packed,” Jax says, stepping up to help fit the bread into the basket.

 

Ray grins back at him. “We all _do_ deserve a nice break, I want to make sure we’ve got food to go along with our picnic. Our captain gets cranky when she’s not fed.”

 

“She sure does,” Jax says, laughing. The two of them work together in comfortable silence, having Gideon program them up various fruits, cheeses, and varieties of bread (including a few gluten-free ones for Ray).

 

Finally, the baskets are packed full of food. Ray and Jax look at each other, both realizing at the same time that there are approximately three too many baskets for them to carry on their own—the Legends all eat _a lot_. Ray had stacked them together when carrying them from the fabrication room, but that’s not quite so easy to do now that they’re full.

 

“You feedin’ an army?”

 

Ray looks up at the familiar drawl to see Leonard leaning against the doorway. “Leonard, perfect timing!” Ray says, beaming at the other man. He notices that Leonard has changed from his usual jeans and sweater into one of his many casual-wear kilts—a simple, black one with deep blue piping along the sides—and a long-sleeved black shirt. “We could use your help!”

 

Leonard strides forward without another word, hooking his arms through the handles of the leftover baskets. “Where to?” he asks, glancing up at Ray.

 

“I figure we’ll meet up with everyone else in the cargo bay and everyone can grab a basket on their way out,” Ray explains, leading the way out of the room. Jax and Leonard follow, arms laden with delicious food. It summons Mick, who pokes his head out of his room in just enough time to snag a piece of bread from Ray’s basket.

 

The four of them head to the cargo bay, finding the rest of the team already there.

 

“There you are,” Sara says, her voice sharp at first, but then her face softens as she notices what they’re carrying. “Oh, hey, good thinking.”

 

Ray glows at her.

 

“Okay then, I have no idea where Gideon brought us, but she promises it will be lovely,” Sara says, pressing her palm to the door release. The metal door swings open with a hum, bright sunshine flooding in.

 

Ray blinks his eyes against the glare, a gorgeous meadow slowly coming into focus. It’s a beautiful day—hot but with a light breeze that trails gently into the ship and ruffles Ray’s hair.

 

“Don’t forget to put on sunscreen, everyone,” Ray says, brandishing the basket on his right arm. It’s got the blankets, as well as bug spray and the aforementioned sunscreen.

 

Sara pats his arm and leads the way out into the light. Nobody grabs a basket from Ray, Leonard, or Jax, but the three of them manage to carry the load to a good place in the middle of the meadow. _Then_ people grab at baskets, some snatching food first, others reaching for the sunscreen and pouring it all over their hands to rub it on their skin.

 

Ray helpfully lays down the blankets, holds out wet wipes to his teammates who have greasy sunscreen all over their hands, and sets out plates, napkins, and silverware for everyone to share.

 

Once everyone else is done putting on sunscreen, he takes the bottle, pouring some out onto his hand and rubbing it on his exposed skin, causing his arms to shine in the light. Someone settles down next to him as he rubs on the cream, and he looks over to see Leonard, legs curled up under his kilt, reaching forward to grab a piece of bread and a hunk of cheese.

 

“Hi,” Ray says, pouring more sunscreen onto his hand and starting to rub it on the back of his neck.

 

“Boy Scout,” Leonard says in reply, taking a bite. Ray watches as Leonard’s face lights up at the taste.

 

“Good?” Ray asks.

 

Leonard nods and settles down even more on the blanket, happily munching on the bread and cheese. Ray joins him, as soon as he finishes putting sunscreen on his face.

 

They eat in silence for a few minutes, watching Sara and Jax goof off, and listening to Nate and Mick flirt (Mick by pretending to be annoyed by Nate chattering at him, Nate by, well, chattering at him).

 

Leonard finishes his food, putting down the nectarine core and leaning back on his hands, stretching his legs out in front of him. His expression is soft and content, and Ray can’t help staring.

 

It’s been a few months since Leonard came back, alive. They’re still not entirely sure how, but suddenly there he was, alive and well and still blinking away the lights of the Oculus explosion, his hands stretched out in front of him. There hadn’t been much time to celebrate, though, not as they chased away the ripple effects of breaking time.

 

In fact, things have been non-stop since then. This is the first time they’re really all sat down together. Sure, they’ve met up in smaller groups—played cards together in Mick’s room with half the team, drank Rip’s good whiskey on the bridge with a few others, caught scarce moments in the hallways to check in with each other—but nothing quite like this.

 

Nothing so relaxed.

 

Leonard glances over and catches Ray’s eye, his expression changing from serene to amused.

 

“You’ve got splotches of sunscreen on your nose, dumbass,” he says, smirking. He reaches a hand up, lifting it to Ray’s face before he catches himself and stops. “Uh, right there,” he says, and points instead.

 

Ray rubs at his nose, his hand coming away greasy.

 

“No,” Leonard says, exasperated. “You missed it.”

 

“Here?” Ray asks, touching a different place on his nose.

 

“ _No_ ,” Leonard repeats, and reaches up again, brushing his finger against the side of Ray’s nose, rubbing the spot away, brushing it out in broad strokes onto his cheek. “ _There_ ,” he says, “fixed.”

 

“Thanks!” Ray chirps, grabbing again for the wet wipes and handing one out to Leonard before taking one of his own to wipe the sunscreen off his hands.

 

Silence falls again, and Ray’s eyes fall on the greenery and blooming flowers around him. He grins, and reaches into the supply basket, fishing out a roll of floral wire.

 

“What’s that?” Leonard asks, his eyes sharply focused on the roll in Ray’s hands.

 

“I’m gonna make flower crowns!” Ray explains. Their teammates look over, excited. “Who wants to go first?” Ray asks, grinning at the enthusiastic expressions focused on him.

 

“Me, me, me!” Nate says, jumping up from his seat of being almost in Mick’s lap and rushing over to plop down in front of Ray.

 

Ray laughs and wraps the wire around the crown of Nate’s head, measuring out the length and snipping it off with the wire cutters he brought. “Okay, that’s all I need from you right now,” he says, and Nate scurries back off to Mick. Ray stands up and wanders through the meadow, picking flowers and grasses, more than he needs for just one crown, and brings them back to his spot on the blanket.

 

Then he cuts smaller pieces of wire, using that to secure greenery and pink and orange flowers to the main circle of wire. He fiddles with it, removing and adding until he’s satisfied. He falls into his work, everything disappearing but the wire and the plants under his hands. When he finishes and looks up, he notices that Leonard’s eyes are on him, sharp and intensely focused.

 

Leonard’s expression immediately falls into something softer, and the corners of his lips quirk up. Before Ray can process that, though, Nate is bounding over.

 

“Is it done?” Nate asks, almost tripping over his own feet to kneel down in front of Ray.

 

“It is!” Ray says, tearing his eyes away from Leonard, who had looked away anyway when Nate came over.

 

“ _Awesome_ ,” Nate says, and leans forward so Ray can put the flower crown on his head. Ray does, and Nate jumps up again, spinning around to show it off to the rest of the team.

 

“Make one for me next,” Sara calls lazily, running her fingers through Amaya’s hair as the other woman lies in her nap. Ray nods and gets up to measure the size of Sara’s head. While he’s over there, he measures Amaya for a crown, too. Once that’s done, he moves back to his spot and falls back into the work again. This time, though, he sneaks peeks up to see that Leonard is still watching him, still examining his every move with laser-focus.

 

It sends shivers through Ray, every time. Leonard’s gaze is just so _intense_ , and yet so soft. There’s nothing intimidating or angry about it. In fact, Ray would say that Leonard’s gaze is warm, almost intimate. The sun beating down on the back of Ray’s neck is nothing compared to the heat that spreads through him at the reminder of Leonard’s eyes, fixed on him.

 

He finishes the flower crown for Sara, and another for Amaya, and brings the crowns over to the women. Amaya sits up and lets Ray settle it on her head, the muted green and bright pops of yellow standing out beautifully against her dark hair. He puts Sara’s crown on her next, the fiery red flowers glowing against the lightness of her hair.

 

Ray loves watching the two of them, usually stoic and occasionally acerbic, melt at the flowers adorning each other’s heads. He sits with them for a minute, grinning and watching them coo over the bright colors and soft flowers.

 

When he turns to go back to his spot, Leonard has vanished. Ray looks around, but doesn’t catch sight of the other man. He tries to keep his face from falling, but he’s not sure he succeeds. Nobody comments, so Ray just goes back to his spot, snatching his wire—which feels slightly lighter than before?—and bringing it over to measure Jax and Stein.

 

He makes their crowns—full of orange and red, mimicking flames—and then moves on to making a fully green crown to sit on the amber halo that is Rip’s hair, and another fiery crown for Mick.

 

Everyone has a crown now, except Leonard. He’s still missing, and Ray feels his heart falling. He measures out an approximate length of wire for what he thinks will fit the crown of Leonard’s head, and surrounds it with puffy, purple flowers, and light blue forget-me-nots.

 

When he’s done he sets the crown down, looking around. Leonard still isn’t back from wherever he wandered off to. Ray is about to put his supplies away, when he feels something land on the top of his head. He looks up into the pleased and proud expression that Leonard is wearing.

 

Ray reaches up, touching the thing on his head. He feels soft flowers, tough wire, sticky grasses. He feels a wide smile bloom on his own face as he stares up at Leonard, his hands still dancing over the flower crown.

 

“I don’t wanna take it off,” Ray says, “but I wanna see it. Take a picture of me?”

 

Leonard nods and pulls his phone out of a pocket in his kilt. He walks over in front of Ray and kneels down, clicking the shutter on his phone. Ray shifts up to his knees as well, snatching up the flower crown he’d made for Leonard on the way. He shuffles over to peer over the other man’s shoulder, carefully setting the flower crown on Leonard’s head before he looks at the picture.

 

The crown that Leonard made is beautifully constructed, greenery in a braid around the wire and, wow, that’s even more intricate than anything Ray had made. Leonard had picked yellow daffodils, and he’d even found a red rose to place at the front. He’d also woven blue forget-me-not flowers through the whole of it.

 

It’s beautiful.

 

Leonard does lift the flower crown Ray made for him off his head briefly to look at it, since it can’t get tangled in his short hair, and the smile that crosses his face at it is lovely to watch. He places it back on his head, shifting it so it doesn’t slide off his close-cropped hair. Ray reaches up, adjusting it so it’s not crooked as Leonard discards his phone, dropping it on the picnic blanket.

 

They’re kneeling face-to-face now, closer to each other than Ray can ever remember being. He feels heat rising to his face, both at the closeness and at the intensity of Leonard’s eyes on his. Ray tears his eyes away to cast a furtive glance at the team, only to find that they’ve disappeared.

 

When he looks back, he sees a smirk flower briefly on Leonard’s face. “Sara shooed them away when they saw me come back with a crown for you,” Leonard says, lifting his hands up to fine-tune the arrangement of the crown on Ray’s head. When he finishes to his satisfaction, he doesn’t drop his hands very far. They fall onto Ray’s shoulders, thumbs rubbing against his collarbones.

 

Ray swallows, unsure of what to do with his hands. He’s _so close_ to Leonard, and he can’t help his eyes from flicking down to Leonard’s lips, can’t help imagining what it would be like to lean forward, to kiss the other man. But, well, why can’t he? If he’s reading the signs right, that’s the next logical step here.

 

Make each other flower crowns, gaze into each other’s eyes, touch each other gently, kiss. That’s the order of things, right? Ray decides to settle his hands on Leonard’s hips, on the canvas-like fabric of the high-waisted kilt. He figures it was the right move when Leonard’s face crinkles up in a smile.

 

Ray has only seen Leonard smile sparingly, and it’s a revelation every time. Leonard’s face lights up with it, and Ray can’t hold back anymore. He leans forward, pressing his lips lightly against Leonard’s smile. He starts to pull back, but Leonard chases his mouth, resuming the kiss almost immediately.

 

Leonard tastes like sunscreen and mint, and he smells like the earthiness of the grass and dirt he’d been digging in. He kisses with intensity and precision, like there’s nothing else in the world. Like one hundred percent of his attention is focused right here, right now, on Ray.

 

The kiss deepens, Leonard’s mouth opening at the press of Ray’s tongue, and it feels like heaven. Ray feels shivers running through him.

 

Leonard pulls back and pushes at Ray slightly. “Sit,” he commands—or tries to: his voice is soft and needy, and Ray loves it. Ray does as Leonard commands, though, swinging his legs around to sit down on the blanket.

 

As soon as he’s settled, Leonard clamors on top of him, straddling his legs, the kilt riding up slightly. Leonard wastes no time in kissing Ray again, holding Ray’s head gently in his hands. Ray’s hands settle once again on Leonard’s hips, before they start wandering up the planes of Leonard’s back.

 

Ray clutches Leonard tight, pulls them closer together. Leonard follows the motion, wriggling even closer on Ray’s lap until they’re pressed completely together. They might be a little too close, considering the team could come back at any moment, but Leonard feels so good flush against him that Ray can’t bring himself to care.

 

Ray’s hands move down along the sides of Leonard’s body, down his hips, making a soft rustling noise as his fingertips scrape against the canvas of the kilt. The hem of the kilt is higher up than Ray remembers it being, and thinks it probably rode up more when Leonard moved forward in his lap.

 

Leonard doesn’t stop him, so he keeps going, his hands brushing against Leonard’s bare legs. Leonard moans at the contact, rolling his hips forward. Ray chokes back a gasp at the motion, feeling all his blood rushing to his crotch.

 

Then they hear someone clearing their throat, and instantly break apart, panting. Ray looks over Leonard’s shoulder to see Mick, rolling his eyes.

 

“The team sent me over, ‘cuz they figure I’m the best one to get you two to stop,” Mick explains. “We’ve given you space, we wanna come back and eat more snacks. Either stop making out, or go get a room.”

 

Leonard buries his head in Ray’s shoulder, wrapping his arms tight around Ray’s torso. Ray laughs softly, placing his palms flat on Leonard’s back. “You wanna stay here?” he asks Leonard, his voice soft. “Stay with the team, enjoy the day? We can, uh, pick this back up later?”

 

“Yeah,” Leonard says and sits up. His lips are swollen, his cheeks flushed in contrast with the cool colors of the flowers on his head. He brushes a hand against Ray’s cheek before swinging a leg over and climbing off Ray’s lap. “Okay,” he says to Mick, “it’s safe for the team to come back now.”

 

“Hey,” Ray says quietly, while Mick meanders off to let the team know, “I still want to cuddle...”

 

Leonard glances over at him. “In front of the team?”

 

Ray shrugs. “Well, yeah. I mean, they already know, and I wasn’t really—I wouldn’t want to hide this, regardless. And, uh, touching you is nice.” Ray feels his face flushing even more than it already was with the sun and the kiss.

 

“I like touching you, too,” Leonard says, the corners of his lips curled up in a soft smile. “You know,” he continues, looking down at the pile of flowers left over from Ray’s flower crowns, “I’m pretty good at braiding hair. How about I braid some flowers into yours?”

 

Ray beams. “I’d love that,” he says.

 

When the team wanders back, Ray’s head is pillowed in Leonard’s lap, the flower crown placed gently off to the side. Strong, warm hands are gently weaving stems through his hair, deftly twisting the strands around the flowers.

 

“I might throw up,” Sara says, plopping down on the ground and reaching for a bunch of grapes.

 

“Shut up, Sara,” Jax says, whacking her arm, “you were doing the exact same thing with Amaya earlier!”

 

“I wasn’t braiding flowers into her hair!” Sara protests.

 

“You might as well start now,” Amaya says, reaching over to snatch a handful of flowers from Leonard’s pile and dropping them down next to Sara before placing her head back in the other woman’s lap.

 

Ray laughs, watching Sara roll her eyes but starts working anyway. The flower crown stays on Amaya’s head, only getting slightly crushed under the weight of her head on Sara’s thigh. Ray is absurdly proud at the sturdiness of his creations. Sara’s fingers blur as she quickly and deftly braids flowers into Amaya’s soft dark hair.

 

The fingers through _his_ hair stop, and he glances up, a question in his eyes.

 

“I’ve run out of hair,” Leonard explains, reaching down to rescue his phone from where he’d dropped it earlier. He snaps a few quick shots, before handing the phone down so Ray can view his handiwork.

 

“You did a great job,” Ray says, flipping through the photos. His hair looks fantastic, with flowers blooming out of it, and his heart feels light and warm.

 

“Had a great canvas,” Leonard mutters, looking shyly away.

 

Ray flips onto his back, gazing up at the other man. Leonard looks back, meeting his eyes. “I want you to be my boyfriend,” Ray blurts out, just barely not tripping over the words.

 

Leonard’s eyes widen before settling back down into a softer expression. A slow smile blooms on his face, stretching out the corners of his mouth before parting his lips, his teeth gleaming. Ray has never seen anything quite so beautiful.

 

“Yeah,” Leonard says, “I’d like that.”

 

“Finally!” Nate shouts across the circle of Legends. Ray and Leonard glance over to catch Mick grabbing Nate in a headlock, wrapping a hand around his mouth. They look back at each other and laugh.

 

Leonard leans down, pressing a butterfly-light kiss against the corner of Ray’s mouth. He replaces his lips with his thumb, brushing softly against Ray’s cheek. Ray hums, closing his eyes.

 

The rest of the afternoon passes slowly, in a haze of warm sun, sweet-scented flowers, and soft touches. Sara sends Nate back onto the ship for bottles of wine and wine glasses (and Nate makes Mick come along to help him carry everything back).

 

As afternoon turns into twilight, the team sits in their comfortable circle, sipping wine, joking around, and enjoying comfortable conversation. Ray sits up so he can enjoy the wine, curling up behind Leonard and draping himself over the other man’s back, resting his chin on Leonard’s shoulder. One hand rests on Leonard’s thigh—covered with the kilt this time—and Leonard’s hand rests over his, fingers threaded together.

 

Ray can’t quite recall the last time he was this happy, this comfortable. As the day fades into night and the team packs up to head back inside, Ray feels light and cozy. As Leonard leads Ray into his room, Ray feels loved, feels _needed_.

 

It’s a good feeling.

 

It’s a good way to end an already perfect day.

 

He gently tosses the flower crown onto Leonard’s desk as Leonard pulls him into a passionate kiss.

 

Yeah, a perfect end to the day.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to Ruth for screaming with me, and the rest of the coldatomies chat for letting me bounce ideas off them <3 love you all


End file.
